This invention relates to a novel, non-nutritive, and/or ion-calorie water-dispersible fat-like bulking agent for aqueous-based food products. More particularly, this invention relates to a novel microcrystalline cellulose composition, methods for preparing the same, and foodstuffs containing said composition. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a substantially-spheroidal shaped particulate aggregate of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and a galactomannan gum (GG). The microcrystalline cellulose and galactomannan gum, when dried, form a novel composition which has a fat-like consistency, appearance and mouth feel when reconstituted in food. This material is a non-fat and therefore is useful to simulate the physical and organoleptic properties of fat dispersed in water when incorporated in such foods as salad dressings, dairy products such as frozen desserts and the like, where low calorie and/or low fat content is desirable. By the term "aggregate" is meant here a stable, substantially physical mixture of two or more components in its wet or dry state but which is more firmly bound when dried, yet remains intact if reconstituted in water under typical food processing conditions.
This composition, while particularly useful as a fat-like replacement in aqueous food products, may also be employed as a controlled release agent; a tabletting excipient; a flavor carrier; or as a bonding, bulking, or encapsulating agent.
In a further aspect of this invention, there is also provided a composition comprising the MCC-GG aggregate having adsorbed thereon lipophilic or hydrophilic materials such as proteinaceous materials, polysaccharides, or combinations thereof, which provide flavors and/or impart other desirable properties to the MCC-GG composition.
The use of MCC (also known in the prior art as ".beta.-1,4-glucan") has been described in the art in association with other cellulosic materials such as carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), or with various gums and sweeteners and the like, to form a water-dispersible colloid for use as a stabilizing agent and to enhance the body and texture of certain types of foodstuffs. See, for example, U.S. Patents 3,539,365; and 4,263,334. The first patent describes a composition comprising MCC and CMC; the second patent describes a three-component composition comprising MCC, various hydrocolloid gums, and sweeteners. Food uses of MCC are generally described in U.S. Patent 3,023,104.
Each of these patents also describes known methods for preparing MCC in a form useful as food additive compositions.
Amongst the various hydrocolloid gums described in the 3-component compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,334 (above) are included guar gum, locust bean gum, gum arabic, sodium alginate, xanthan, gum karaya and the like. However, as this patent describes, except for CMC no one additive, including gums, gave fully satisfactory results as a dispersant in forming homogeneous colloidal dispersions unless both gum and sweetener were present.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,539,365 directed to peptizing microcrystals, discloses (inter alia, col. 6, lines 6-12; col. 8, lines 50-53; and Table IV) that the compositions employing, e.g. guar gum, and the mixing methods of making the compositions, lead to the finding that only CMC (of a certain molecular weight) imparts all desired characteristics to MCC as a food additive.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,287, on the other hand, while disclosing a cellulose and gum combination, as in the above patents, further discloses the need for polyhydric alcohols to be present in the composition in order to make the resulting material palatable. Moreover, this patent is directed principally to simulating dietary fiber, and thus does not teach that the cellulose must be in a microcrystalline form, nor does it teach that the resulting product must necessarily be dried.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,899 discloses a combination of microcrystalline cellulose and guar gum primarily as a stabilizer of pulp-containing soft drinks. However, this combination differs from the novel aggregates described below in that it is never dried to particulate form, and further it contains a carboxymethylcellulose as a necessary component of the composition.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,739,287 and 4,911,946 each show the use of various types of spherical particles as fat substitutes. U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,946, for example, teaches the use of microcolloidal carbohydrates within a certain micron range as cream-like substances for use in foods. Neither of these references, however, teaches the use of a stable, water-dispersible combination of microcrystalline cellulose and, e.g., guar gum, in the form of spherical particles, as further defined below, for use as a fat-like substance.
Indeed, it is well-known that guar gum, which had been sought after as a dispersant for colloidal MCC because of its water-absorbing capabilities and low cost is actually incompatible with MCC when admixed therewith in that it inhibits the peptization of MCC. Therefore, because guar gum, like other galactomannans, forms flocculates with MCC, it was supposed that these hydrocolloid gums would not be suitable in admixture with MCC as food stabilizers or the like. Thus, the art has discouraged the use of galactomannan gums, especially guar gum, as a traditional barrier or dispersant for MCC alone in food products despite its low cost and water-absorbing properties.